As the Morning Dew
by Tania Helene
Summary: Hinata finds out that she has a fear of spiders. Why? Can Shino help her to get rid of that fear? ShinoHina story...


**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters from Naruto…**

**This is my second fan fiction and I really hope you enjoy read it as much as I enjoyed writing it;-)**

**As I wrote in my first story, there maybe will be some mistakes in the language since I'm from Denmark. And as I also wrote in my first story, please, PLEASE try to ignore the small mistakes if there are any…**

**Thanks!**

**Enjoy!**

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As the morning dew

The fire crackled softly in the early spring night. Team 8 was sitting around it and ate their roasted fish in silence. They were all tired after a hard B-ranked mission they have been on in the past month and they were happy that Konoha only was a day of traveling away. Hinata looked at her teammates and couldn't help but smile. She was really enjoying spending time with them. Even if the mission or training could be very hard, she liked being with her closest friends.

Kiba was about to give Akamaru some of his food and she smiled even more. Kiba was the funniest of them all. Even if neither Shino nor she got the point in his jokes, he could always make her smile. As a dog owner, he was caring and responsible, and that was one more of those things Hinata liked about the young Inuzuka.

Akamaru barked happy when he had eaten his third fish and let his master lean against the big, soft body.

Hinata turned her attention to her other friend. Shino had unbuttoned the upper part of his collar so he was able to eat. He was much more comfortable around them after all those years together and that warmed her inside. To begin with, he had been pretty cold and reserved but then, after some time, he had learned that Kiba and she were worth trusting. She was very happy for that because he was one of the most important persons in her life. He was the one who stood up and told her that she was strong. The one that helped her being acknowledged by her family and… Naruto. He had helped her train and encouraged her to keep going, stand up and try again. Hinata looked at her almost eaten fish and smiled even more. She was so thankful to have him.

"Is something funny?" Suddenly Kiba asked and Hinata looked up to meet his grinning face.

"F-funny?"

"Yeah, you're smiling like crazy,"

"Oh… well, I'm just… happy, I guess." She gave him another smile but then his eyes suddenly narrowed. Her smile fated. "S-something wrong?" Kiba held his head a little to the site and leaned forward. Then he nodded and gave her a wry smile.

"Look at your right shoulder." Hinata frowned and looked to the right. Her eyes widened and she screamed in surprise.

In few seconds, she stood up and was brushing the huge spider off her arm. It fell to the ground and her whole body shook. A cold feeling was running down her spine when she saw its long and hairy legs, and knew that they had crawled all way up her back a moment ago. She flinched when it started to crawl slowly in her direction. It had the same size as a hand and its fangs were slapping against each other in a horrifying way. Hinata still just stood and looked at it.

_Just move away from it, Hinata. It's just a spider, why are you so scarred?_

When the insect was about a half meter away from her feet, she heard steps walking towards her, but the only thing she could look at was all of the eyes the spider had.

Shino squatted down and took the spider in his palms. Then he walked towards some bushes and putted it down which after the spider found its own way away from the camp. Hinata was breathing heavily.

_What is wrong with me?_

"Are you all right?" She heard Shino ask and met his eyes. Well, his sunglasses. His collar was back on but she could hear the concern in his deep voice. She swallowed and nodded. She fell on her knees and looked down. A spider? She was freaking out because of a spider? That was so… childish. She was almost 19 but still acted like a 4 year old. How embarrassing.

Shino helped her up with his hand. He had held the spider in his hands without fear at all. Not even disgust. But then again, he was an Aburame after all.

_But how can he hold that huge spider without feeling anything?_

"Are you sure? You're still shaking?" Kiba had stood up and took a few steps towards them. Hinata nodded and looked at them both. They looked concerned and she turned around. She wasn't a little girl who needed to be comforted every time she was scarred.

A hand was placed on her shoulder but she shook it off. "I'm fine," she said, "I… I just need to… to be alone." Then she ran. Everywhere was better than here with those confused gazes starring at her.

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Hinata looked down into the river. Her reflection starred back at her with pale eyes. Then she shook her head and looked away.

_What's the matter with me? Every time I'm having a good time, something comes in the way and…_

However, she didn't finish the thought because her attention was placed at the coppice when she heard someone coming.

Shinos shape was shown in the moonlight when he appeared behind a tree. Hinata kept looking at him when he walked towards her but when he sat down beside her on the rock, she looked away. She knew that she was blushing and it annoyed her. The blushing was one of her weaknesses too and something that wasn't useful at all.

Shino gave a "hm," to clear his throat and then broke the silence, "Kiba and I talked and found out that I was the best of us to talk to you. I am, as we all know, the insect expert." Hinata knew that he was looking at her but she didn't want to meet his gaze. She was too embarrassed.

"I don't want to force you to tell me what it was all about but you should know by now, that I'm not the type who laughs at other people." Hinata felt her stomach become lighter and she nodded but still just starred at the water under her feet.

Shino was on his way to stand up when Hinata said, "If I have to be honest then I'm not sure what happened." Shino stopped and sat back by her side. He didn't say anything but waited for her to continue so she did, "I've… I've never felt this kind of p-panic before."

"You have seen a spider before, right?" Hinata nodded and finally looked at him. He nodded and continued asking, "You haven't acted the same way to other spiders?" She shook her head. "Was it the looks?" Hinata didn't know but…

"M-maybe…"

"Then what was so terrifying that you couldn't move in fear?" Hinata looked down in the water and an answer was finding its place in her head.

"Was it because it was big and hairy?" Hinata shook her head and gave a small smile.

"No. It was nothing… nothing compared to Akamaru." Hinata had an impression that Shino smiled but of course, she couldn't see it.

"Then what?" He asked again and Hinata took a deep breath. She answered, "I-it was so big so I-I could see everything much better. I think… I think that it was p-partly because of the eyes too. There were so many of them and… they just kept starring at me. There was nowhere to run or hide because… because those eyes would always see me. It reminded me a little of my… my…"

"Byakugan?" She nodded. "The spider reminded me of all of my problems. T-the web takes care of that I'm not running away from… from my responsibility. The eyes are… looking at me all the time and see every single move I make. And… and the fangs are always ready to punish me if I'm not… good enough." She buried her face in her hands and sobbed. He placed a comforting hand on her shoulder and the movement did something to her. She couldn't resist and embraced him. Her arms around his chest. She didn't look at him but she felt that he froze a little, but then he held her tight into his body. They sat there for some minutes and he let her cry. She knew it wasn't the first time he had seen her cry. Sometimes when Neji had beaten her in training at home and she went to train herself after, she knew that he had observed her. He had seen her angry tears when she punched the posts on the training grounds. She had seen him with her byakugan. She didn't ask him to come out or hide her tears because she knew that he wouldn't tell anyone. He wouldn't call her weak.

When the tears were cried out, she looked at him but didn't let go. He didn't whispered comforting words in her ears, he didn't said that everything was going to be all right, he just sat there and hold her in silence. The silence was something she was used to and had grown to like about him. He didn't need to express everything in words.

"M-maybe we should go… go back to the camp now. Kiba-kun is p-probably waiting for us." She felt Shino nod and they broke the embrace. Hinata suddenly knew how warm he had been and felt goose bumps on her skin when a breeze hit her in the back.

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Kiba was sitting leaned against a sleeping Akamaru when they came back from the river. When he saw them, he stood up and walked towards Hinata. He didn't say anything but looked at her with questioning eyes. She smiled and he sighed in relief. Then he looked at Shino, his eyes narrowed but still with a smile. "How do you do it?" Shino raised an eyebrow, "Do what?" Kiba smiled even more and pointed at Hinata. "Make her happy again that fast every time she is depressed." He chuckled but the noise was soon replaced by a yawn. "Well," he said, "I think I'm going to sleep, now I know that everything is fine." Then he lied down in his sleeping bag against his dog. "Goodnight," he said. Hinata answered back and Shino simply nodded. They looked at each other and she smiled. "We should get some sleep too, don't you think?" She asked and went to her own sleeping bag. He hadn't moved and she looked a little confused. He answered her gaze, "I'm going to stay up a little longer, just go to sleep." Hinata was too tired to ask questions and did as he said.

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Hinata?

Hinata?

A deep voice was calling her back from the tight sleep and she opened her eyes with effort. A warm hand was placed on her arm and she tried to focus on the shape in front of her.

Shino?

"Hinata, wake up!" He whispered and she rubbed her eyes. He was a little hard to see because the fire was putted out, but her eyes soon got used to the dark. How long had she slept? Was it already morning? No, it couldn't be. The sun wasn't even up yet. Was something wrong? No, it couldn't be that either. If that were the case Shino wouldn't have woke her up that gentle.

"Shino-kun…"

"Come with me, Hinata. I want to show you something." Hinata frowned in confusion and rubbed her eyes again. "W-what time…"

"It's almost dawn,"

"Why do you wake…?"

"As I said, I want to show you something." Hinata stood up and looked at her other teammate who was sleeping tight. She looked at Shino and pointed at the canine like, young man but Shino just shook his head. "Only you." She nodded and walked over to him. They began walking into the wood around their camp.

Hinata looked at Shino as they walked in silence. "Shino-kun, what…" He interrupted her, "I don't want to ruin the surprise." Then the silence rose again and Hinata was left with her thoughts.

_What does he want to show me?_

Nevertheless, Hinata knew better than to ask him again. He wouldn't answer anyway.

After they had walked some minutes, they reached a glade. Hinata looked around but it didn't look like there was anything at interest. However, Shino had stopped and said, "It's here." Hinata frowned and looked at him.

_Here?_

"B-but Shino-kun… There's nothing here." Shino looked at her but shook his head. "There is more here than you think. You just can't see it at the moment," Hinata nodded and was on her way to activate her byakugan when Shino placed a hand on her shoulder. He shook his head as a sign that she shouldn't do it. She nodded but couldn't help but sent look even more confused.

"What I want to show you shouldn't be experienced with your blood limit." He looked up at the sky, which was starting to change color. Orange and pink colors were invading the otherwise white clouds. However, she couldn't see the sunrise yet.

The surroundings were becoming clearer as the light came and Hinata took a better look around. She gasped when she saw that the glade was filled with spider webs. Her breath raced with her heart as her fear began to rise. She took some steps backwards but stopped when her back hit something hard. She looked over her shoulder and saw that Shino had stopped her. He laid both his hands on her shoulders to keep her where she was. At first, she felt like she was captured and just wanted to get away from his grip, but after some moments she felt different. Shino would never hurt her or force her to do anything. He wanted to help her, she was sure of that. Nevertheless… What did he want to show her in a spider web filled glade?

"Just a little longer," he whispered and looked up. Hinata looked around them and saw that something wasn't right. The place was filled with webs but… where were the spiders? She looked up at Shino and as he had read her thoughts he said, "The spiders would distract you from what I want to show you."

The sun was almost visible from behind the treetops and Hinata closed her eyes when the light blinded her. She felt Shinos hands squeeze her shoulders a bit and she opened her eyes. She gasped at the sight that met her.

The glade was now filled with light from the sunrise. When it hit the spider webs, she saw that they shone in competition with the sunshine. In thousands of beautiful patterns, there were small drops in the webs that reminded Hinata of pearls or silver. It was…

"S-Shino-kun… it's… it's so beautiful! But… but how…?"

"What you see in the spider webs is the morning dew. When there isn't movement in the webs the drops won't disappear until they evaporate by the warm from the sun."

"B-but, why?" She blushed when he looked at her. She would give everything to find out what he was thinking at that the moment. This was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen, but…

"You said that you feel like the web keeps you captured so that you can't get away. The morning dew will fall off if they get a little help. If the help never comes then they will find a way on their own." Hinata looked at him and then turned her attention to the shining sensation that surrounded them.

"And the day when you have escaped, the eyes won't be there to spy on you, and the fangs can't reach you. You are strong enough to escape, Hinata. Don't ever let anyone tell you otherwise." His voice was so strong when he said it. Hinata couldn't help but give him a fated smile. Kiba was right. Shino was always able to find a way to make her happy again. He was always there to comfort and help her.

"Shino…" She looked into his dark shades and smiled. She reached up to unbutton his collar and he seemed to stiffen. Hinata didn't stop but unbuttoned the upper two buttons.

"…would you mind being…" she continued as she removed his hood. His wild hair bristled up when the fabric was gone and she smiled even more. The last thing she needed to remove was his glasses. Without thinking about it, she reached up and touched them. He didn't stop her and she took it as a sign that it was okay. She removed them and finished her sentence, "… the movement in the web that helps me escape?"

Shinos eyes were closed but when she had finished he opened them slowly. Hinata still smiled and just looked into the dark, onyx colored orbs. She placed a hand on his cheek and he leaned into her touch. She could feel his kikais hum under his skin and it made her unbelievable happy. The sound made her sure that he was there and would always be. Naruto was completely forgotten in this moment.

"If you will let me," he whispered. His hands found their way down to her waist and he pulled her closer. Both her hands were now on his cheeks and their lips met.

When they broke, Shino ran a hand through her hair. They both smiled.

"There is one more thing that you and the morning dew have in common,"

She giggled a little, "Then what's that?"

"You're both unbelievable beautiful."

8


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